SAINT LOUIS UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF LAW FACULTY WORKLOAD & RESPONSIBILITY POLICY Each faculty member in the law school is expected to engage in the instruction of law students, in scholarship, and in service to the school, legal profession and community. This document sets forth the standard expectations for the yearly law faculty workload for teaching, scholarship and service consistent with the Faculty Senate University Policy on Faculty Workload. It is the Dean s responsibility to ensure that there is an equitable distribution of workload among the faculty. The distribution of each law faculty member s workload will be made on an annual basis by the Dean after individualized consultation with each faculty member. Although the guidelines outlined below will apply in the majority of cases, it is recognized that there will be circumstances in which the distribution of responsibilities for a faculty member will differ from the norm in order to meet the needs of the Law School or the individual faculty member. Section III outlines circumstances that may justify a variance from the standard workload. I. Tenured and Tenure-Track Faculty 1. Teaching Each Law School tenured and tenure-track faculty member is expected to spend between 40-50% of his or her time on teaching activities. Teaching activities include classroom teaching, preparation, grading, office hours, student counseling, supervision of moot court teams and law journals, and research related to the subject matter of the courses taught. In general, tenured and tenure-track faculty member s standard teaching load is 10-12 credit hours, typically three to four courses per academic year. Factors such as class size, new preparations, number of course preparations, creation of teaching materials, method of assessment, and modality of instruction, including clinical or practical skills teaching impact an individual faculty member s teaching load. Instructional credit is also given for supervision of independent research, moot court teams, law journals and law journal notes. 2. Research Law School tenured and tenure-track faculty members are expected to spend between 30-40% of their time engaged in research and scholarly activities intended to lead to the publication of law review articles or the equivalent that would satisfy the scholarship 1
standard established in the Law School s promotion and tenure policies. In general, a tenured or tenure-track faculty member s research obligation is to publish, at a minimum, one law review article (or its equivalent) every two years. In addition, tenured and tenure track faculty are expected to contribute to the wider scholarly community (especially when this occurs in settings outside of the law school) by presenting at academic or professional conferences and workshops, by giving lectures, and by regularly publishing book reviews, commentaries, essays or other shorter, less analytical articles that evidence the faculty members scholarly work and professional growth. Factors such as higher than standard teaching or service load may, on rare occasions, alter the overall research expectation, but not below the minimum standard of one article every two years. Faculty whose workload allocation for research exceeds the normal range are expected to exceed the minimum scholarship expectation. 3. Service Tenured and tenure-track faculty members are expected to spend between 10-20% of their time engaged in service to the law school, the university, the legal profession and the public. Service to the law school and university includes, among others things, participating in, directing, or chairing committees, centers, and faculty governance bodies; and advising student organizations. In general, a tenured faculty member s normal law school and university service load is the equivalent of serving on two committees, one of which has a significant workload. Tenured full professors in addition must serve on the Personnel Committee. Factors such as the agenda of a particular committee or service as a committee chair may alter what is considered the normal service load. Faculty members are also expected to contribute to the law school by attending faculty meetings; faculty workshops; law school symposia; student orientation; student events; December graduation; and hooding and commencement. Faculty members are also expected to engage regularly in professional and public service. Such activities include, but are not limited to, pro bono services to groups or individuals; educational programs aimed at the bar or public, school children or other groups; service to bar associations and similar groups; assistance to local, state or federal governmental bodies; and service on not-for-profit boards. Faculty members should expect to serve on law school and university committees, in certain administrative capacities, and in professional societies and associations. However, a too 2
heavy commitment in these areas of service may interfere with the effectiveness of a faculty member as a teacher and scholar. Each faculty member and the Dean should annually clearly define what the expectations will be for service. These expectations should include an estimate of the amount of time that should be devoted to the activity, the anticipated results of the service for the University, the law school, and the faculty member, and the means that will be used to assess the results of the service activity. In so far as possible, service activities should be undertaken that relate to the faculty member s teaching and scholarly activity and research. If these criteria are used when a service activity is undertaken and reviewed, then faculty and the Law School may achieve a more satisfactory ratio of teaching, scholarly activity and research, and service workload. Ideally, these responsibilities will be related so that they can support and enlighten each other. II. Non-tenure Track Faculty, including Clinical Faculty, Legal Writing Faculty and Instructors 1. Teaching Non-tenure track faculty are expected to spend between 60-80% of their time on teaching and advising. Such activities include classroom teaching, preparation, grading, office hours, student counseling, supervision of moot court teams and law journals, and general research related to the subject matter of the courses taught. The standard teaching load for non-tenure track faculty is 12 hours or four courses per year. Factors such as class size, new preparations, number of course preparations, creation of teaching materials, method of assessment, and modality of instruction, including clinical or practical skills teaching, impact an individual faculty member s teaching load. Instructional credit is also given for supervision of independent research, moot court teams, law journals and law journal notes. In general, the standard teaching load for Legal Writing faculty is four sections of first year legal writing or equivalent per academic year. First year legal Writing is an intensive class that requires individualized feedback on multiple writing assignments. For clinical faculty teaching in-house clinics, the standard teaching load is 8-10 students per semester when faculty carry full responsibility for both the classroom component and supervision of students representing clients. This teaching load reflects the time demands when lawyers assume professional responsibility for representing real clients. It also reflects 3
the level of supervision needed to assure that student-lawyers are providing adequate, zealous and ethical legal services. 2. Research Non-tenure track faculty are expected to spend between 10-20% of their time engaged in research activities that promote their professional growth and engagement with the academic or broader legal community. Research for non-tenure track faculty includes, among other things, legal and legal-interdisciplinary research that leads to publication of teaching materials, white papers, and presentations at academic, CLE and other professional conferences. It may include law review articles, but such publication is not a requirement for scholarship for non-tenure track faculty. 3. Service Non-tenure track faculty members are expected to spend between 10-20% of their time engaged in service to the law school, the university, the legal profession and the public. Service to the law school and university includes, among others things, participating in, directing, or chairing committees, centers, and faculty governance bodies; and advising student organizations. In general, a non-tenure track faculty member s normal law school and university service load is the equivalent of serving on two committees, one of which has a significant workload. Factors such as the agenda of a particular committee or service as a committee chair may alter what is considered the normal service load. Faculty members are also expected to contribute to the law school by attending faculty meetings; faculty workshops; law school symposia; student orientation; student events; December graduation; and hooding and commencement. Faculty members are also expected to engage regularly in professional and public service. Such activities include, but are not limited to, pro bono services to groups or individuals; educational programs aimed at the bar or public, school children or other groups; service to bar associations and similar groups; assistance to local, state or federal governmental bodies; and service on not-for-profit boards. Faculty members should expect to serve on law school and university committees, in certain administrative capacities, and in professional societies and associations. However, a too 4
heavy commitment in these areas of service may interfere with the effectiveness of a faculty member as a teacher and scholar. Each faculty member and the Dean should annually clearly define what the expectations will be for service. These expectations should include an estimate of the amount of time that should be devoted to the activity, the anticipated results of the service for the University, the law school, and the faculty member, and the means that will be used to assess the results of the service activity. In so far as possible, service activities should be undertaken that relate to the faculty member s teaching and scholarly activity and research. If these criteria are used when a service activity is undertaken and reviewed, then faculty and the Law School may achieve a more satisfactory ratio of teaching, scholarly activity and research, and service workload. Ideally, these responsibilities will be related so that they can support and enlighten each other. III. Exceptions to the Standard Workload Expectations All faculty at the Law School are expected to be involved in teaching, research and service as defined by the Law School s promotion and tenure policies. Recognizing that some faculty will assume new or additional responsibilities in any one of these areas, exceptions to the standard workload may be made. The Dean is responsible for making appropriate adjustments to individual faculty workloads. Exceptions to the standard workload may be made based on the following considerations. 1. Instruction. Exceptions from the standard instructional load may be based upon a number of factors, including but not limited to, class size; development of new courses or teaching materials; number of different course preparations; modality of instruction, including clinical and practice skills training; use of multiple assessment tools rather than only a final exam or paper; and complexity of the subject matter. 2. Research. Additional time for research may be granted in appropriate circumstances based upon both past productivity and the proposed project. However, faculty whose workload allocation for research exceeds the normal range are expected to exceed the minimum scholarship expectation. Factors such as higher than standard teaching or service load may alter the research expectation, but not below the minimum standard of one article every two years. 3. Sponsored Research. Assignment of additional time for research may be supported by either Law School or external funds. In those instances where the research is supported by externally funded grants or contracts, the accompanying reduction of expectations for 5
service or instruction should mirror the replacement of salary support by externally funded salary support. 4. Service. Assignment of additional time in areas of service and a consequent reduction in expectation for either scholarship or instruction should be directly related to the duration and expectations of the commitment. For example, individual faculty members may be released from the standard expectation in the area of instruction in order to make a major professional service contribution. Non-tenure track faculty may also be relieved of their standard expectation for scholarship. However, tenured and tenure-track faculty members may not be released from the minimum scholarship standard of one article every two years. 5. Law School Administration. Assumption of significant administrative responsibility may require reduction in expectations for service, scholarship or instruction. The magnitude of such reduction shall depend on the scope of the administrative responsibilities. 6. Sabbaticals. A faculty member on sabbatical will have his or her overall faculty workload adjusted in consultation with the Dean. 7. Other, including family or medical issues. A faculty member may receive a reduced instructional workload in order to accommodate other individual needs, including family or medical issues or temporary disability. Approved by the faculty of the School of Law, August 31, 2016. Approved by the Dean of the Law School, August 31, 2016. Approved by the Faculty Senate,. Approved by the Provost,. 6